Lakeland 92, Edison 73: Smith's dominating play sparks Lakers

Sophomore center Richard Smith is a force to be reckoned with on the surging men's basketball team at Lakeland Community College.

In a 92-73 rout of Edison Community College on Saturday at the Athletic and Fitness Center, Smith finished with seven points, six rebounds and five blocked shots.

Those numbers, even the five blocked shots, don't tell the story of how the 6-foot-8, 195-pound product of Lutheran East High School dominated the area between the top of the key and the basket.

Challenging every attempted entry pass and rolling effortlessly to the basket, Smith altered at least a dozen shots by the Challengers.

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With Smith setting the tone for a Lakeland defense that limited the visitors from western Ohio to 37.8 percent shooting from the floor, the Lakers improved to 17-4 overall and 7-0 in the Ohio Community College Athletic Conference.

Lakeland is ranked 12th among National Junior College Athletic Association teams.

With five teammates averaging in double figures in the scoring column, any point production from Smith is icing on the cake.

"This is the way I've always played," said Smith, who is being recruited by California University of Pennsylvania and some other Division II programs.

Whatever school manages to get Smith's name on the dotted line will be getting a player growing into his body and his game.

"Richard is a much better player this season," LCC coach Terry Bowe said. "He's really improved his second jump and ability to react to the ball. Now, he blocks the shot or changes the shot and gets the rebound."

Sophomore guard Charles Oliver netted a game-high 19 points for the Lakers. Sophomore forward Chaz Rollins came off the bench to add 18 points, a team-high seven rebounds and three steals.

The Lakers shot 44.2 percent from the field and led from wire-to-wire.

"Our pressure defense really worked (Saturday) and we got nice production offensively from everybody," Bowe said.

Edison slipped to 9-9 and 3-3 in the OCCAC.

Smith said that in his opinion, this Lakeland team potentially is better than the one that last season played its way into the Final Four of the NJCAA Division II national tournament.

"We have more pieces and everybody knows their role," Smith said.

The Lakers host Columbus State Community College at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday.